Knowing your limits

May 14, 2016

I’ve always been the sort of person who likes to have a lot of different things to do. Working on just one thing tends to make me stagnate, so I like to juggle multiple projects, to keep everything fresh and me invigorated. I always thrived under these conditions when I was in school and through my twenties, so I guess I figured I’d always be able to keep it up.

I should have known better. Because the thing is, yeah, maybe that worked when I was in college and was in good health. But I’m not anymore, and I haven’t been in good health for a long time. I knew I was working with a limited number of spoons here, but I just kept pulling silverware out of the drawer, thinking I’d be able to make it work.

Unfortunately, I reached the bottom of the drawer. I’m out of spoons. I’m sicker than I’ve been in two years, and overextending myself like this has been making me much worse. It’s gotten to the point where I had to choose between giving up some of these projects or winding up in the hospital.

So some things have to give.

Announcement #1: I’m no longer co-editing Circuits & Slippers.When I finished Perchance to Dream, I vowed loudly that I would not edit another anthology. It was way too much work, it took a ton of time away from my other projects and it forced me to postpone the publication of Fourth World. “I’m not doing that again,” I swore up and down. And then I decided to do it again anyway. There were so many people excited about the idea of an anthology of fairy tale retellings, and I thought maybe if I had a co-editor, I could manage it.

The problem is, though, I was anticipating the same kind of turnout and the same amount of workload as what I’d had for Perchance to Dream, just split among two people. I never could have anticipated how much bigger Circuits & Slippers would end up being. The turnout we had for C&S was incredible—overwhelmingly so. In all we had close to 100 submissions, ten times the submissions I got for Perchance to Dream.

I somehow managed to survive the read-through phase, but by the end of it I was sick as a dog, and the real work hadn’t even started yet. I knew there was no way in hell I was going to make it through the editing phase. It would be unfair to everyone to say nothing and then not be able to finish the project.

So, I’m leaving C&S in the fantastically capable hands of my co-editor, Jaylee James. She’s done an amazing job on it so far, and I know that with Jaylee in charge, the book is going to turn out wonderful. I’m really looking forward to reading it when it comes out this fall!

Announcement #2: Some changes in dates for the Iamos Trilogy.
Between my health problems, Circuits & Slippers and needing to take on new freelance work in order to pay for my ever-increasing medical bills, work on the Iamos Trilogy has had to take the backseat over the last few months. But the work that I have managed to do on the series has shown me that the story is much bigger than I had originally planned. The tie-in novella, set between Fourth World and New World, is turning out to be quite lengthy. Like, possibly not even technically a novella anymore.

Originally I had intended to release Different Worlds (the novella) and New World within a month or two of each other. That would have entailed me finishing Different Worlds early, then holding it back while I worked on New World. Unfortunately, the delays due to my health and juggling too many balls at once mean that New World is nowhere near completion yet. It definitely is not going to be ready by September, and possibly is not going to be ready until early 2017. Different Worlds, though, is still on track for a fall release, which left me in a quandary about what to do regarding publication.

I talked it over with my crit partners, and this is what we came up with: Different Worlds, as the title might suggest, is a bit different from the rest of the trilogy—it has different narrators, and the focus is entirely on “modern” Mars rather Iamos/the Iamoi. It’s not part of the “main” series, and my aim is that you won’t need to read DW before you read NW. However, it is a very plot-filled book, and it should be enjoyable for readers of Fourth World, to tide you over while you’re waiting for New World to release. So, even though my plan was originally to release the two books very close together, the new plan is to release Different Worlds on its original schedule (tentatively late August or early September), and just postpone New World.

So, updated release dates:

Different Worlds, Book 1.5 of the Iamos Trilogy: Fall 2016

New World, Book 2 of the Iamos Trilogy: Early 2017

I’m hopeful that with my revised schedule and decreased workload, there will be no more delays on this series. I’m very excited about continuing Isaak, Nadin, Henry, Tamara and Scylla’s stories, and I hope that you will enjoy the books when they release! Look forward to more news about Different Worlds, including a cover reveal, very soon. In the meantime, you can add the book on Goodreads now.

I put off making these announcements for a long time, because I kept thinking I could somehow make it work. I kept deluding myself long after it became apparent that it was absolutely not going to work. So please accept my apologies if these announcements seem sudden or like they came out of nowhere; that’s entirely on me. I knew this was coming, I was just in denial about it. In the future, I’m going to strive to be more honest with myself about what’s a manageable workload for me, and schedule myself accordingly. As always, it’s a work in progress.

6 Comments

You are amazing and need to take care of yourself first. 🙂 Even if that means cutting back projects. I can’t wait for the next Iamos books!! But… I CAN wait if it means you won’t run yourself into the ground. 😉 You’re awesome, Lyssa. 😀